Creating and Distributing a News Release n 57 being a boat owner who had invented a better drainage solution that would help others like him. Don't distract; support your story! S TEP 5. E ND WITH THE NITTY - GRITTY DETAILS . What are the practical details (prices, addresses, dates, phone numbers, URLs, how to register, and so on) that any media notice about your subject should include? Combine these details in a sen- tence or two. At this point you'll have drafted a four-paragraph news release. Congratulations! Polish it and format it similarly to the previ- ous sample and the one that follows. S AMPLE N EWS R ELEASE #2 For: Creative Ways, P.O. Box 1310, Boston, MA 02117. Contact: Marcia Yudkin 1-800-333-8376, marcia@yudkin.com. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ma rketing Upgrades: New Low-Cost Alternative to the High Fees of a Crack Copywriter Boston, MA, July 8, 1996--"My last mailing cost me hundreds of dollars and I didn't get any response!" "I know that my brochure/ sales letter/ad/press release is terrible--help!" Until now, only two options existed to help business owners flummoxed by their market- ing ineptitude: They could hire nationally known top copywriting talent, for thousands of dollars, plus, in many cases, a royalty on re- sulting sales; or they could tap a local penster for a reasonable flat fee, for serviceable but not sensational work. Finally, though, a national expert on persuasive writing has devised a way to provide business owners and professionals with potent, sparkling marketing materials at a cost that fits most budgets. "I most enjoy improving copy, rather than writing it from scratch for others," says Marcia Yudkin, PhD, author of Persuading on Paper: The Complete Guide to Writing Copy that Pulls in Business (Plume/Penguin Books) and seven other books. "And after being asked again and again for help, I discovered that almost anyone could write a terrible sales